A variety of medical procedures are performed to treat various female pelvic dysfunctions, including procedures to treat urinary incontinence, and correcting various prolapse conditions such as uterine prolapse, cystoceles, rectoceles, and vaginal vault prolapse.
Women often experience vaginal prolapses due to age or other factors. For example, women may experience a cystocele, a rectocele and/or a hysterocele. A cystocele occurs when the bladder bulges into the vagina, and a rectocele occurs when the rectum bulges into the vagina. A hysterocele occurs when the uterus descends into the vagina. An enterocele (small bowel prolapse) can also occur, when the small bowel pushes through the upper wall of the vagina.
Treatments of such dysfunctions have included suturing procedures or the use of implants for support or suspension. A hysterocele is often treated with a hysterectomy followed by a vaginal vault suspension. Various devices and procedures are used to deliver and secure pelvic implants within a variety of different anatomical structures within a pelvic region. Implants can be delivered to a pelvic region through one or more vaginal incisions, and/or through exterior incisions in the patient.
Existing implants differ in many ways including size, shape, material, number and location of straps, and in the method in which they are delivered and placed within a pelvic region. Additionally, depending on the particular condition to be treated and the implant used, pelvic floor repair can require various fixation locations within a pelvic region. For example, an implant can be secured using a number of fixation points.
In some implants, sutures may be used to bridge, anchor and suspend the implants in place within the body of the patient. In other implants, the implants include arm members or anchors that extend to and couple to bodily tissue to suspend or retain the implant in place within the body of the patient. As tissue in-growth occurs on the implants, however, the sutures, arms, or other anchoring members may no longer be necessary to retain the implant in place within the body of the patient. The tissue in-growth may support the implant within the body such that the sutures, arm members, and other anchor members are pulled from their anchor locations. This pulling within the body of the patient may be painful and/or harmful to the body of the patient.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an implant that does not include specific fixation points within the body of the patient. Additionally, it is desirable to provide an implant and a securement mechanism that allows the implant to be secured within the body of the patient for a period of time (for example, while the tissue in-growth is occurring).